‘Defiant’ Besigye vows on regime change, attacks MPs on remuneration

DEFIANT? Dr Kizza Besigye addresses a press conference at an earlier function at his home in Kasangati. Photo credit/nbstv.

Opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) flag bearer for the 2016 presidential elections Warren Smith Kizza Besigye has vowed to ensure that the National Resistance Movement government collapses.

Dr Besigye, who returned from a ‘working visit’ to Europe and the United States today, made the remarks while addressing a press conference at his home in Kasangati.

This followed his arrest at Entebbe International Airport, from where he was whisked off to his home to avoid a procession that was announced about a week ago by his party, the FDC.

Besigye was scheduled to return to Uganda last Thursday but party stalwarts, Deputy Secretary General Harold Kaija and former Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Parliament Wafula Oguttu, announced that he had altered his plans.

“There’s no turning back. This imposter regime must go. The people of Uganda must regain their freedom. We are going to win by defiance. If people withdraw their support from a regime, that regime falls. That’s what we shall continue rallying our people to do,” Dr Besigye said on his return today.

Dr Besigye, who contends he won the 2016 presidential elections, has always insisted that change can only come to Uganda through ‘defiance’. “This struggle to free Uganda is not a partisan struggle. The struggle we are in is not just for FDC but for all people,” he emphasized, adding: “We are going to use this independence to show that this is our country. We shall communicate the programme later.”

He also took swipe at the haphazard remuneration systems in the country, and called for the establishment of an independent body to oversee the process.

“We must have an independent remunerations body. No public servant should determine their own pay. Not even MPs. Parliament is the only institution that determines its own salaries. This needs to change, Dr Besigye said, before blaming President Yoweri Museveni for the country’s economic woes.

“Museveni is killing investments by the way he behaves. This is our country. Let’s not get tired. The enemy of Uganda’s progress is the regime and its behavior,” he charged.

Meanwhile, earlier today, police spokesperson Andrew Felix Kaweesi had told the media that police would foil any attempts at holding processions and that the FDC had not communicated the new date for Dr Besigye’s return.

Dr Besigye, who is facing treason charges and is expected to appear before court tomorrow, has been out of the country for the last one month, during which time he addressed gatherings at renowned UK think tank Chatham House, and also at the Uganda North American Association (UNAA) convention in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.